1. But where says some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain...let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING.
Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776

2. I just finished reading The Brotherhoods, by Oldham and Lawson. The 750 page tome was a couldnt-put-down ..like a combination of The Godfather, and a NYTimes court-reporting of actual events.

3. Two NYPD detectives worked for the mafia during the 80;s and 90s, turning over information on wiretaps, imminent arrests, informants and went on to do kidnappings and involvement in eight murders for the mob.

4. The book gives an amazingly detailed picture of the times, the mob, the players involved. A major wiseguy is revealed to have every human characteristic he becomes central in the prosecutions case against the detectives. We come to understand the difficulties of the lawyers of the defendants, and the defense in a RICO prosecution.

5. For a RICO case to fall within the time limits of the law, the acts had to form a single pattern. From 1986 through the 90s, Detectives Caracappa and Eppolito had been employed by the Lucchese crime family. After they retired from the NYPD, they moved to Las Vegas, and were involved in money laundering and narcotics trafficking, in 2004-2005.
6. The work done by the government in collecting over a decades worth of evidence, and witnesses and assembling an air-tight case was masterful. There could be only one outcome. Guilty. Every count.

7. The life-long Liberal, 83-year-old Judge Jack Weinstein was never my favorite of judges. The Second Amendment Foundation, a gun rights organization has called upon Judge Weinstein to step down from the bench or step aside from hearing any further gun industry lawsuit cases, arguing that the judge has become known more for activism than judicial neutrality. And Judge Jack Weinstein has been criticized for being sympathetic towards plaintiffs in litigation against the tobacco and firearm industries. Jack B. Weinstein - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
And a refusal to enforce the Persistent Felon penalties whenever he could .thats not law: that's a Liberal imposing his wishes as an outcome.

8.Judge Weinstein overturned the jury's guilty verdict.

U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein ruled that the five-year statute of limitations had expired before the government charged Louis Eppolito and Steve Caracappa with helping the Lucchese crime family commit eight murders. The judge also granted both former officers a new trial on their convictions for drug dealing and money laundering. Weinstein made it clear in his 77-page ruling that he agreed with the jury that both men had betrayed their badge and committed the most vile criminal acts, including murder and kidnapping. But he argued that the law essentially forced him to toss out the convictions .Legal experts said it is highly unusual for a judge to vacate the decision of a jury N.Y. Judge Overturns Ex-Officers' Convictions

9. The ruling, in a 102-page order that touched upon Thomas More and the sanctity of the Constitution, was the latest and most severe turn in the 15-month case. "It will undoubtedly appear peculiar to many people that heinous criminals such as the defendants, having been found guilty on overwhelming evidence of the most despicable crimes of violence, should go unwhipped of justice," he wrote. "Yet our Constitution, statutes and morality require that we be ruled by the law, not vindictiveness or the advantages of the moment." http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/01/nyregion/01cops.html?_r=0

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